The Movie
by G8Master
Summary: What happens when you take a bunch of Animorph fans from the middle of nowhere and give them a video camera? Caleb and Bobby were about to find out. Concluded, but a fifth chapter is possible.
1. The Spark

Honestly, I don't update often. I might have the next chapter up… in two weeks. Enough of my blabbering! TO THE STORY!

* * *

The Spark

The boy's face was twisted in pain, eyes full of sorrow.

The other figure's open optics faced darkness, taking in nothing, yet staring forever.

The room was dark. The sofa that once brought comfort and warmth just mocked them silently. The curtains in the damp basement were closed. The tape slowly slid out of the VCR. The hand holding a remote control with it's last bit of strength, loosened and fell limply to gravity's hold. The remote hit the cold, unforgiving concrete.

"What…" whispered the boy, "was that?"

"AAAGH!" The other teen jumped up from the couch. "What _was_ that! I paid good money for that tape, and what do we get from it? Eighty gawdawful minutes from my _life_!"

"I know!" Caleb jumped up too, practically frothing at the mouth. "What's up with that? I don't even _get _how they got away after they got Ax and Visser Three caught up!"

"I want to see blood!" Bobby slumped back into the couch. "No battles, no gore and _no Taxxons!_ They were like going to be the coolest part!"

"Curse you Warner Brothers!" Caleb wailed.

Bobby blinked at him. "I don't think Warner Brothers made this one."

"Really? Well, they make everything else, so I assumed…"

There was an awkward silence. It was really dark.

"CURSE YOU MAKERS OF THE ANIMORPHS MOVIE/TV SERIES!" they screamed at the same time.

The door to the basement burst open. "CALEB!"

"Leah!" Caleb said, jumping to his feet again. "Do you _mind_? I have company!"

"Yeah well I'm talking to my future boyfriend while you two are shouting!" spat Leah, hair flying into her face. Her hand was pressed against a phone.

"Uh, Leah?" Bobby said timidly.

"_What_?"

"You may want to cover the microphone. Not the numbers."

Leah's eyes widened and she turned around. "Oh, uh, hi Trevor. Um, awkward moment…" She left.

The two friends looked at each other. They burst out laughing (this is where the phrase ROFL literally comes into play).

"Oh! Oh!" gasped Caleb. "Too rich! Too _rich_!"

"Okay, that movie was worth it just to see the look on your sister's face," Bobby laughed from his position on the floor. "Ow ow! Rib, knee, not good combo!"

"Sorr."

"Sorry?"

"What did you do?"

"Ugh."

They heaved themselves up and sat back into the ploofy couch.

"So," Bobby said. "What d'you want to do now?"

Caleb was silent for a long time. "I say…" he said slowly, an evil grin creeping up his face.

"What?" Bobby said slowly, a similar smirk possessing his features. "What do you say, oh devious one?"

"I say… we make our _own_ movie."

* * *

After reading tcg/animefan's review, I checked out a few episodes on YouTube. Tcg/animefan is right. Let us all take a moment of silence to mourn the mutilation of a wonderful book series. u_u Anyways, pu_leeze_ stick around for the next chapter! Which will be better formatted and much longer… I hope…

I'm not making a good case for my story, am I?

* * *

"Isn't your cat a tabby?"


	2. The Recruiting

A/N: YES! I found my inspiration today, and so here is this chapter! Cool… It didn't take two weeks. Oh, and I'm making up the organizations to which Jake belong. The "Animorphs Appropriate Ships Committee of New England" was just too much for me _not_ to stick in there.

Disclaimer: checks pockets Nope. Still no copyright to the Animorphs. DARN!

* * *

The Recruiting

"Oh my gosh it was so humiliating!" Leah wailed. "And it's all my little brother and his dorky friend's fault!"

Her friend appeared to be talking to her on the phone.

"Are you kidding? Trevor will _never_ talk to me again! I'll be shunned from society and labeled as a desperate crazy chick!"

Leah paused again. "No, jocks do _not_ go for that!" Another pause, this time thoughtful. "But… it's worth a shot…"

A knock on her door made Leah groan and roll off her bed. She opened the door.

"Hey Leah?" Caleb asked hurriedly.

"What d'you want?" she grumbled.

Her little brother took a few steps back in case she became hostile. "Uh, d'you know where the video camera is?"

"By the door."

"Thanks!"

Leah shut the door and climbed back on her bed. Wait…

She got back up, and she went into the kitchen. "Wait, what do you need the camera for? And why are you holding that stupid book?"

Caleb's weird friend, Bobby, answered, "We're making a new Animorphs movie because the professional one sucked rocks! Wanna play the part of Rachel?"

"No!" Leah drew back, appalled. "Just don't get yourselves killed. I don't want to be blamed again for that time you acted out Stunt Devil the Movie."

Caleb and Bobby grinned at each other.

After she was gone, the two boys continued pulling on their boots and stuff. "Okay, what do we do?" asked Bobby.

"Well—" Caleb opened his copy of _Back to Before _to the inside cover (you know, the picture where they all have an animal growing out of them) "—I'd say you look most like Marco, so-"

"How come I have to be Marco?" Bobby whined.

Caleb pressed the picture against his face.

Bobby batted it away from his nose. "Oh fine! But that means you have to be Tobias."

"Tobias! Why can't I be Jake?"

Bobby pointed at the other boy. "Darkish blond hair, tall, no leadership capabilities. You _are_ the hawk."

"Fine," Caleb grumbled.

They headed out the door.

Ten minutes of walking around the streets:

Caleb blurted, "You know, I don't think Elfangor's ship is going to crash in our town tonight."

Bobby nodded. "We aren't looking for Elfangor. If we couldn't find him last time…"

"Then what are we looking for? Our marbles?"

"Nope! Something even crazier than ourselves. We need a Jake in order to film the arcade scene."

Caleb stopped short. He gazed off into a telephone pole. "Wait… you mean…? Oh no! Not that!"

Bobby grinned and kept walking.

Caleb chased after him, begging all the way. "_Anyone_ other than him! It would be too humiliating! W-we can find someone else! It shouldn't be too hard: Go online and type in, 'Mentally unstable teens seek male resembling Jake to star in film.' Just _don't_ get HIM!"

* * *

"So, you want me to be, uh, Jake?" 

Caleb sunk lower into his chair. Bobby nodded vigorously. "Will you do it?"

Jake- a respected member of the Animorphs-Stargate Alliance and AniFan since the fifth grade, _and_ a senior high school student- grinned his totally wild grin. "I'm in."

Caleb, who had been covering his head in anticipation, looked up. "What?" he said blankly. "No begging? No bootlicking? That's it?"

Jake considered his boots thoughtfully. "No, they look clean enough."

"Yes!" Bobby pumped a fist in the air. "We've recruited the guys!"

"So," Caleb said slowly, still cautious, "you want to go down to the arcade? Try to film the first scene?"

Jake shrugged. "'Kay."

So, they went down to the arcade at the mall, and filmed the scene where Marco and Jake (or in this case Bobby and… erm, Jake) were first messing around. Caleb was the camera guy, since according to the books, Tobias wasn't leaning on their shoulders saying, "Dude, can I have a quarter?" or anything like that. Caleb wouldn't be in the movie until the end of that scene.

The three boys walked out of there, laughing hysterically.

"This is going to be the best film _ever_!" Bobby said.

"We haven't even finished the arcade part," Jake laughed.

Caleb drawled, "So?"

"Well ya got me there!"

They burst into uncontrolled hilarity again.

"Wait, wait," Jake said. "Won't it seem a little weird when Jake, who is the same age as Marco and Tobias, looks two years older?"

Bobby shrugged. "As stated by Cassie, Jake always looks two years older than he actually is."

Jake nodded. "That is so groovy." There was a long pause.

They burst into hilarity.

The next day at school, Bobby and Caleb managed to track Jake down in the seniors' hall. Younger kids just _don't_ go in the seniors' hall, and they were nervously wishing that Jake would come with them out of the 'forbidden' section.

"Okay," Caleb said. "We're still short a Cassie, a Rachel, someone to hold the camera- and _how_ on Earth are we going to make something that even _represents_ Elfangor and his ship?"

Jake, realizing the question was directed at him, just shrugged and answered, "Beats me. Have you tried searching the web?"

Bobby laughed. "Good idea! Caleb would never have thought of that one."

Caleb sighed.

Then, Jake stopped short. His eyes narrowed and he spread out his legs in a perfect imitation of John Wayne about to reach for his gun.

A girl that was pretty short if she was a senior, was about thirty feet away from them. "Seth!" she snarled.

Jake gripped his head and snarled back, "I'm not Seth! Call me _Jake_! I'm _Jake_!"

Caleb looked at Bobby. He was thinking, _Whoa this guy nuts!_

The girl said, "You're not fit to be called Jake!"

"Fine! Then I'm forced to call _you_ Thomas!"

She looked baffled beyond words. "My name is not Thomas!" she shrieked. "It's Sandy!"

"Who's she?" Caleb whispered to Jake.

"Sandy Thomas," he answered. "We're worst enemies after I beat her out of a chair in the Animorphs Appropriate Ships Committee of New England."

"What's a ship?" Bobby asked, looking bewildered.

"And Jake Seth, it was soooo childish when you shot down my MarcoAx!" Sandy barked.

"It's not cannon!" Jake cried defensively. "And it's gross!"

"So is your CassieTobias!"

Bobby and Caleb gasped and took a few steps back.

Jake grinned sheepishly. "Touché."

Sandy smirked and came up to the three boys. "So, what are you and your little kid friends messing up?"

Bobby stared at her. She had blond hair and was like three feet taller than him! "Dude," he said to Caleb, "gimme Mega-Four."

Caleb, confused, took out Megamorphs #4 from a pocket and handed it to him.

Sandy stared at him. "How many do you got in there?"

"Only six."

Bobby flipped around until he got to Marco's first chapter. Aha! "Look!" he said, shoving it at Caleb. "Right here. It says in an exaggerated tone that Rachel is like three feet taller than Marco. She fits the description perfectly!"

Sandy knew all too well Rachel was a picture of fashion. Flattered, she said, "Well thank you!"

Caleb stared at her. "By George! Well, the green highlights aren't exactly mentioned, but we'll deal."

"Oh no!" Jake moaned. "She _is _the incarnation of Rachel!"

"Hey Sandy," Bobby said. "You want to be in our movie?"

"Uhhhh, what's it about?" she asked.

"We're re-making the TV series."

"Sweet."

"You're in?"

Sandy smirked spitefully at Jake.

"I'm in."

It was lunch time. A lunch time on a Tuesday. A middle lunch on Tuesday, actually. The ninth graders and the tenth graders were eating together.

Bobby sat down next to Caleb. "Ugh," he said, poking his school lunch.

Caleb yelped and stared at the tray. "What _is_ that?"

"Beats me. It's chewy though." Bobby put on big puppy eyes and blinked at Caleb.

Caleb sighed, "Fine, you can have my cookie." He started rummaging around in his paper bag.

A girl who looked like she walked out of a fashion magazine came over and sat down across from the two boys.

Bobby blinked a few times. "_Sandy_? I thought you would be in third lunch!"

Sandy gave him an odd look. "Nnnnno. Tenth grade, not eleventh."

"Then what were you doing in the senior's hall?" Caleb asked blankly.

She looked embarrassed and said hotly, "Mind your own business!"

Bobby snickered. "They don't know you're our age, do they?"

Sandy glared at him. "Anyways," she snapped, "what's this about a movie we're filming?"

Caleb shrugged. "It's a simple concept really. We just act out what's written in _The Invasion_ and hope we don't run across any problems."

"Hey," Bobby said slowly, "how are we going to show the morphing stuff?"

"We'll get to it when we get to it," Caleb drawled, and started eating his sandwich. Bobby started feeling through his friend's bag.

Sandy sighed and started drinking her milk. After a few seconds, she got this really weird look on her face and she said, "Mmmm. Mmmmilk."

Caleb and Bobby moved a few seats down the table.

After lunch was over, the three people filed into the halls. Caleb said to the first girl who had ever considered hanging out with him, "So… Do you know anyone who could play the role of Cassie?"

Sandy rolled her eyes. "We're in a small school, whose kids come from five small towns. It's a miracle there are _four_ people here that read the Animorphs."

Bobby nodded. "That's so deep."

Sandy moaned and pushed the two boys back. "Oh no, it's Ann! I can't let her see me with you two dorks!"

"Thanks," Caleb said sarcastically.

She hissed, "Just get out of- Hey Ann!"

A girl with red hair grinned. "Hey Sandy. What's up?"

"Heading back to Spanish."

"Cool."

Sandy let out a sigh of relief as the girl walked by.

"Can we pretend to know you now?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah. As for this Cassie business, I'll check on some forums, see if there are any fans in this area."

So, the next day again, Sandy, Jake, Caleb and Bobby met up in the tenth graders' wing.

Sandy, smirking smugly, reported, "I found us your Cassies."

"Cassies?" Caleb repeated.

"Yup. I found _two_ Cassies. They're twins, so if one gets sick the other one can fill in. And they've agreed to join the cast."

"Or use the camera!" Bobby said brightly.

"Sweet!" Jake grinned in his maniacal way. He immediately stopped as he realized it was Sandy who recruited the new people.

She smirked more broadly. "Yes. You don't have to tell me how awesome I am. I know. Kaycee and Joanna Stapels live in Northampton, and their parents worry about them being on the streets. As it is, they'd much rather have their daughters on the streets of Goshen than in a witness-protection program in Hamp. It's a sealed deal."

Caleb grinned and said, "As stated earlier by Jake, 'Sweet!'"

* * *

And after school, Jake knocked on Caleb's door. Leah answered it, and stared at the random and slightly creepy kid in her doorway. 

Jake smiled. It was an empty smile though, just an action of pulling one's lips back. "Hello there. I believe this is the residence of Caleb?"

Leah stared at him. "I'd like to let you know that there is a loaded shotgun in every room in this house. We've been taught to shoot to kill."

Jake stopped smiling and stared at her. "Uh… Thanks for sharing that. I'm gonna leave now…"

Caleb, peeling a banana, spotted him and came up. "Hey Jake. What's up?"

"You… know him?" Leah said slowly.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "No, Leah. He's just some random and slightly creepy dude that just _happens_ to know where I live."

"I'm not slightly creepy!" Jake protested. He paused. "I'm _very_ creepy." He proved his point by cackling wildly. "Now c'mon! Kaycee and Joanna are meeting us at the library."

"'Kay. Leah, tell Mom I'll be back by supper!" Caleb went out into the yard with Jake, and looked around. "Uh… dude? Where's your car?"

"Car?" Jake repeated, pulling up a bike.

Caleb groaned. "You don't have your license and you're _eighteen_?"

"Why would I? Bikes are better for the environment," he said matter-of-factly.

"This is precisely why you scare me," Caleb muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing."

At the library, Bobby and Sandy were already there. Caleb and Jake walked in, and the four "Animorphs" waited for their Cassies. After much patient waiting…

A car pulled up, and out came two girls looking exactly like the real Cassie would if she had a twin. Including mandatory bird-poop overalls. One of theirs said, "Hi! My name is JOANNA" and the other's said, "Hi! My name is KAYCEE". The girl labeled Kaycee was holding a suitcase.

The girls waved goodbye to their parents, and looked around.

Bobby grinned. "You two must be Kaycee and Joanna."

"No! Really?" Joanna said, rolling her eyes.

"And you have to be Caleb, the guy playing Marco," Kaycee said.

Bobby blinked a few times. "No, Caleb is playing Tobias. I'm Bobby."

"Are you sure?" Joanna gasped.

"No, Joanna," Kaycee said sarcastically. "He doesn't know his own name."

"You poor boy!" Joanna gasped again. "Anyways," she pulled her sister into a one-armed hug, "we are the beautiful Stapels twins, at you're service!"

"It took us forever to get our costumes done," Kaycee stated.

Joanna added, "And several bottles of white-out."

Sandy grinned. "Beautiful Stapels twins, meet Jake, Caleb and Bobby."

And then... Kaycee took out a bulky movie camera, slung it onto her shoulder like a rocket launcher, and said, "Let's do it."

* * *

**A/N:** Heh heh… I'm going to have a lot of fun write about filming. There's going to be a lot of metaphorical shootouts between Sandy and Jake! Oh, and thank you to tcg/anime fan, Iddie, and Traycon 3. You guys/girls rock! 

winks playfully

Jr

"Why are you making me wear this!"


	3. The Filming

Good gosh, I'm just hoping that I attract some new readers, because anyone who read it in September has long gone!

Oh, I forgot to add in my last chapter: THANK YOU to my "Goshener" friend Hannah! Remember everyone, Hannah goes to _Meekins_. She also doesn't mind answering random questions about her town, but you have to track her down first…

Guest Appearance: Jake's brother!

Disclaimer: While the Animorphs are awesome and I'd give anything to scream from the rooftops, "I OWN THE ANIMORPHS!" I don't, so I can't.

* * *

The Filming

Joanna and Kaycee whipped out notebooks, and started requesting everyone's screen names.

Bobby, Jake and Sandy were stunned, but gave theirs after a while. BobKingAple, Question42, and ThereGr8. Caleb blushed and mumbled his.

"What was that?" asked the girl labeled Joanna.

Caleb said it again.

"GUSTYGIRL17?!" Joanna screamed in horror.

Caleb yelped, going totally red, "I share an account with my sister!"

"YOU SHARE AN ACCOUNT WITH- Oh wait, that's not that bad."

By this time, a librarian had noticed this racket.

"Caleb!" she said, coming up in a friendly manner. "I've been trying to get a hold of you. One of your books has been overdue for the past year. The… Animorph book. The Experiment."

"Oh!" Caleb yelled, a little too loudly. He did a sort of a half roll that ended with him kneeling and his backpack hitting the floor and splitting open. It spilled its contents all over the floor. A _lot_ of Animorph books. He riffled through them and handed her a book with Ax as a steer on it.

"Uh… thank you." The librarian seemed as unnerved as the teens.

Sandy said slowly, "I repeat. How many do you got in there?"

Caleb smiled weakly. He was getting sick of being embarrassed. "Uh, I thought it would be good to have some references for each character so we don't have them being OoC."

Bobby nodded. "Good idea. It would ruin the movie if Marco suddenly starts acting like me- irresistible, mild-mannered with a bubbly personality, and over all modest."

Caleb rolled his eyes.

Jake said, "C'mon, let's go down to that arcade and finish up that scene!"

* * *

So, at the arcade, Kaycee held the camera while Caleb made his first appearance as Tobias. That's when they found out he was a sucky actor. 

"_What's up_?" Caleb said forcedly, after the thirteenth try.

Jake was trying to get his spasming face (it was hard for him not to start laughing) under control. "Nothing much, Tobias. We're heading home."

Bobby managed to say, "Out of quarters. SOMEONE kept dying and SOMEONE kept losing all our quarters!" He was cracking into a smile as he stared fifteen feet up to Jake.

Joanna's mouth flopped open, and her eyes bulged. She lunged for the off button on the camera and switched it off just as Bobby started laughing hysterically- a millisecond from ruining the scene that took nearly forty minutes to get right.

"I'M SO SORRY, BIG JAKE YOUR LEADERNESS! I JUST COULDN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT THE **JAKE PASS**!"

This was too much for Caleb. He dropped to the floor and cackled like a madman.

Joanna was trying to get the kink out of her head from diving headfirst into the wall. Kaycee, bewildered, stammered, "Wh- What's the Jake Pass?"

No one wanted to answer.

After Sandy got to say her favorite line ("Are you going to come and protect us, you big strong m-a-a-a-n?") and Joanna got in her speech, Bobby glanced at the clock.

"Oh my gosh!" he gasped. "I told my mom I'd be back by six!"

"So?" Caleb said lazily. "It's only- HOLY CRAB!"

Caleb, Bobby and Sandy panicked and tried to figure out where in heck they put their coats.

"WAIT!" Jake bellowed, in a deep voice no one had heard before. It must have been his commanding Jake voice, because everyone froze. "What are we doing?" he demanded. "This is the best opportunity we'll have for a while. Night's falling, it's not raining, and construction on the new store is postponed _only_ until tomorrow. So why are you guys so eager to get home?"

Sandy sneered, "Because I have a life, unlike you, and I'd rather not have my being grounded get in the way of that!"

"Do you always do what your _mommy _tells you?"

"YOU'RE DEAD, SETH!"

"YOUR MOMMY!" he shrieked, ducking as she lunged at him.

Kaycee put down the camera and the twins calmly slapped the two. "Get a grip," they chorused.

"Jake's right," Caleb said hastily, so Jake and Sandy couldn't get into another verbal sucker punching. "This might be our last chance this week to get in the construction site at dusk. I say we do it! Even though _my_ mommy will make sure I don't get a date until I'm thirty!"

* * *

"Alright! What we need is a rock solid introduction! Something that anyone watching it will have to take a second look and yell, 'Wow! That is a rock solid intro!'" 

Everyone stopped walking and slowly turned to look at Sandy.

"What?!" she cried.

"Uh… Nothing," Bobby said slowly, and tried to walk fast enough to leave her behind. It wasn't working.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "But we don't _just_ need an intro. Where are we going to get Elfangor's ship? Elfangor? The Hork-Bair and the _Taxxons!_"

Caleb knew he had struck a nerve. Bobby snapped to attention, with an expression of hate on his face that made him look like he was glaring at the Visser. "Curse the ones who left out the Taxxons…"

At last, the others saw the twins looking sort of embarrassed. "Uh… I think we can help."

Ten minutes later, the "Animorphs" had walked over to the inn that the Stapel twins were staying at.

"Hey," said their dad, flipping through the fuzzy channels. "How come these people out here don't get cable?"

Their mom looked over. "And… who are these?"

"Oh!" Joanna pointed out each of them. "This is Caleb, Jake, Sandy, and Bobby. Do you know where the alien props are?"

So, Kaycee pulled out about a dozen cardboard cutouts, two Andalites, four Hork-Bajir and four-

"Taxxons!" Bobby gasped in delight.

The six teens (carrying the Visser and his pals with a lot of difficulty) found the construction site by seven thirty.

"Here," said Caleb, pointing to a huge culvert sticking out of the ground. "If we try _really really _hard, we can pretend this is his ship."

So they set up the set, acted out the whole part about them walking into the site, Tobias being spacey, and Joanna shook the camera to make it seem like the "ship" had touched down.

"Alright," Jake muttered out of the corner of his mouth. "Go for it, Caleb."

Caleb choked out, "WE COME IN PEACE!"

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Great Tobias. The first words to an alien race are something that just flew out of a time-machine." (How did Bobby think of such brilliant covers?!)

Elfangor fell over in the breeze.

A few seconds later: "_Cassie! You're supposed to be concerned_!"

"This is so weird!" Kaycee cackled. "Oh, I mean… HELLO ELFANGOR! WOULD YOU LIKE US TO RE-TAPE YOUR ARM?!"

Silence from Elfangor.

"Hey," Bobby said slowly, as Joanna put down the camera. "How are we going to represent thought-speak?"

Jake looked around, and picked up an empty paper towel roll off the ground. "Hello! I am Elfangor!" he said through it, voice sounding very thought-speakesque.

"Ewww!" Joanna yelled, covering her eyes. "Jake that's just _gross_! You don't know where it's been and now it's on you're _mouth_ and EWWWW!"

Jake took away the cardboard. "So is this how we're going to represent thought-speak?"

"Hopefully with a different roll," Caleb added.

"Alright… Let's keep filming. My mom is going to kill me if I don't get home soon," Sandy muttered.

So after quickly recording the explanation and the chase scene (which consisted of the six kids sprinting home), Caleb got back to his house.

And was promptly grounded.

* * *

The next day. A knock on the door. Caleb opened it. 

Jake stepped in. "Okay, now we try our first morphing scene!"

The rest of the gang pushed in past a bewildered Caleb. Well, except for Sandy who was mysteriously absent.

"Wait!" he cried. "I'm grounded. No T.V., Internet, and no running around town."

"We're not running around town," Jake pointed out. "Nice place you've got here… We're running around your bedroom."

"Why?"

Bobby said simply, "For the sake of the Invasion."

"Okay," said Caleb slowly. "C'mon, my room is this way."

"What part are we at?" Kaycee asked.

"Tobias drops in on Jake, who's trying to convince himself he can't morph," Joanna reminded her.

"Oh yeah."

Snowball, Caleb's black cat, looked up and looked very surprised to see so many people crammed into her room.

"Perfect!" Jake gasped. "Caleb, you can morph that cat!"

"No I can't," Caleb pointed out. "Me and Bobby never found the morphing cube."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "But I guess it _is_ going to be a problem morphing…"

Five minutes later,

"This is the _worst_ plan ever," Joanna muttered, but continued recording.

"Watch, Jake!" Caleb/Tobias said loudly. "As I morph into Dude!" He paused, grabbed a sleepy Snowball and quickly switched places with her.

Jake stared at the cat, getting ready to laugh. "Isn't your cat a tabby?"

"DO NOT QUESTION THE TOBIAS!" Pause. "I REQUIRE CATNIP AND THOSE LITTLE CHEWY FISH-SHAPED TREATS!"

After a quick scare where they realized no one had a dog (they had to use a big stuffed animal Caleb tried to deny he had) they flipped through "The Invasion". Guess what? They needed a Tom.

Jake groaned. "Oh man…"

"What?" Bobby asked.

"I know where we can find a Tom."

* * *

On Wednesday, both Caleb and Sandy's ground-ment wore off. They met up again at the corner of Chesterfield and Bell Road. 

"Where the heck is Jake?" Bobby asked.

Okay, not _all _of them.

Caleb pointed over yonder. "I suspect that's him."

Around the corner pedaled a bicyclist that was being tailgated by a Chrysler Cordoba. Jake, panting heavily, slowed to a stop. He grinned. "Hey guys! Told you I knew where to find a Tom." He gestured to the car's door that had just opened. "Fellow Animorph fans… this is my brother, Matt."

Out of the car stepped their Tom. "Hey, ladies and germs!"

"He's… He's _perfect_!" Kaycee muttered in astonishment.

Yes, he was the avatar of Tom. He was about six foot three with darker, almost black hair and brown eyes.

Matt looked around, smirking. He seemed to be enjoying their awe immensely. "Well, let's get this show on the road, eh? I need to get back to campus tonight."

So that's how Caleb ended up pushing past his sister who was on the phone, as usual.

"Hold on a second, Jenny." Leah glared at Caleb. "Mom says you have to take out-"

"Yeah, whatever!" Caleb ran up the stairs.

"Where are you-" She twirled around in bewilderment as six people went past her. "Who are-?!" She sighed, frustrated, into the phone. "Oh my gosh my brother's being weird again! He's got all these people in the house and none of them have beer!"

Caleb was super nervous and kept stammering his lines to "Tom", who had just come in to see why Homer was barking. Luckily, this fit perfectly into the script and just seemed like very realistic acting.

They ran back downstairs and filmed Jake and Matt's banter. They were interrupted twice when the oblivious Leah came in the kitchen to get some soda.

"Leah!" Caleb cried, pushing her out of the way the third time this happened.

"Caleb! What are you-"

He had shoved her into her room and shut the door.

Matt said, "Who was that?"

"Who was who, Tom?" Jake said with a grin.

After the scene was done, Sandy frowned. "Hey, do you think we should film some others of Tom's appearances while we still have our actor, or should we keep doing this shuttling stuff?"

"Well," Joanna reasoned, "we probably can't make Matt here keep driving back and forth so…"

Matt smirked. "I can spare a few miles, but my schedule is tight, you know? Let's all just go down to the D.A.R. and film a little."

That's precisely what they did. Much to Jake's disgruntled protests ("I'm going to activist's hell…"), they all piled into the back of Matt's car, and drove to the lake. It was kind of chilly, but due to a freakishly balmy fall, there were still people playing volleyball on the shore. The group casually slipped in and started their scene.

About halfway through, they finally had to come to grips with something.

Bobby sighed and said to Caleb, "You think we can get by without a Chapman?"

Caleb hesitated. "We might… I don't know."

Kaycee shrugged. "All we need is an old guy. You know, mid forties who can read a script." She mocked an older gentleman's voice and said, "Quiet, you whippersnappers! We've got some problems."

Bobby's eyes widened.

"Item one: We still don't have a clue where the hooligans from the construction site are."

Caleb's eyes widened.

"I want 'em found, uhhh… and Visser Three wants 'em found. So… So… Why are you all staring at me?"

For a moment no one spoke.

Caleb said slowly, "I know how we can make this work."

* * *

Kaycee was holding off hysterics. "I feel so silly." 

Joanna nudged her playfully. "Keep it together, Chapman."

Everyone but Matt was lying in the dunes.

Bobby hissed, "And… ACTION!"

They had taped a piece of black paper over half of the camera lens to make it look like there was a person really close to the camera. While "Tom" was talking to "Chapman", he made sure to keep staring at the same spot in the air. They laid Caleb's stuffed animal on the other side in the background to symbolize a morphed Jake.

The scene ran without a hitch! They even managed to get home before it was dark.

By the next day, Matt was gone. Jake seemed unusually happy.

In the tenth-grader's hall at school, Bobby asked, "Why the thrilled look?"

"You didn't find Elfangor, did you?" Caleb gasped.

"No!" said Jake happily. "The world just seems happier. The birds are singing, the sun is brighter, there isn't a cloud of evil hovering next to me!" He cackled wildly at his… "joke", drawing several frightened looks from the tenth-graders.

Bobby considered pretending not to know him. "Cloud of evil, you say?" Bobby inquired, as if commenting on the weather.

"I don't know if you noticed, but my brother is _evil_." He paused. "He tortures squirrels!"

Caleb's jaw dropped. "_Really_?"

"No," sighed Jake disappointedly. "But I still don't like him."

* * *

Over the next week, they managed to get down the scene at Cassie's barn, since by sheer luck Sandy's dad happened to be a police officer, one who was willing to pretend to be enslaved by an evil alien slug. The scene went surprisingly well, except they didn't have a horse for Joanna to "morph". So, she asked a grocery worker if she could borrow a cardboard advertisement for milk. 

After Kaycee stopped filming, she said loudly, "And I'm sure no one will notice Cassie could only morph badly into a two-dimensional cow with the words 'GOT MILK?' hovering over its head!"

Everyone burst out laughing.

Well, except for Sandy, who was protesting, "There's nothing wrong with milk! Stop laughing at the dairy-osity of milk!!" This of course only made Jake collapse in laughter, which made Caleb, Bobby, Joanna, Kaycee and Sandy collapse in laughter.

Caleb yelped suddenly, "OW! Rib, knee, not good combo!"

"Sorr," said Sandy.

"Sorry," corrected Bobby.

Kaycee asked quizzically, "What did you do?"

"Ugh…" groaned Caleb.

* * *

To make a long, gradual, sad story short... 

As the months wound on, they were beginning to realize there was no way they would be able to pull of such a stunt alone. Kaycee and Joanna were being called out to Gosheb less and less. Their exuberance, imagination and confidence were dwindling away, until the epic movie cassette was left in a corner of Caleb's room. Bobby and Caleb sometimes spotted the tape labeled simply "Da Movie", and had a few laughs about the good times they had.

Sandy continued to be friends with Bobby and Caleb, when Anne wasn't around. Jake remained more cracked up then an egg dropped off the Empire state building into a parade of tap-dancers (yet he still remained more popular than a… than a… popular… person). Kaycee and Joanna kept on chatting with all of them over the web.

And that was the end of the Animorph movie.

Right?

* * *

One day, two girls were surfing the web, while talking on the phone with someone across the country. 

"Trevor did _what_?" one girl gasped into the phone.

"What?" whined the other. "What did Trevor do, Jen?"

A pause while the girl across the country talked. Then, "He asked you out?! OH MY GOSH!"

"OH MY GOSH!" screamed the other girl. "Who's Trevor?"

But Jen didn't answer. Suddenly, she got a strange taint to her voice, and she said, "I've… I've gotta call you back." The phone beeped and clicked shut.

The other girl looked over Jen's shoulder, at the computer screen. "What?"

Jen looked sort of dazed, but a devious grin was creeping onto her face. "It's a blog. Some people are making an Animorph movie, but they don't have enough actors so they stopped."

The other girl shook her head. "That's a pity. It would be so cool if we could get all our friends together and be in that movie."

Jen grinned broadly. "Yeah. It would."

She scrolled to the bottom, and read the return email address.

* * *

A/N: Yay! The chapter is finally up! Who knows? In a few centuries, I might even have the next one done. Thanks to Traycon 3, the mysterious "swazzy moddo", and the people who looked at the second chapter. (Hmmm. Why do I have a feeling I just thanked myself 47 times?) 

Reviews are appreciated! In fact, they're craved, which explains why I'm so hungry. Thank you for reading!

Jr


	4. The Revival

Thank you to Iddie K., Traycon 3 (thanks for not hunting me down!), B2KApollo, Mandy Kay Miller, and Delly.

Sheesh, and I lecture _other_ people for not updating for years!

Disclaimer: I still own nothing of Applegate's.

* * *

Caleb woke up. He was sleepy. He put some bunny-eared slippers on his feet and dragged them down the stairs. He got a banana out of the fruit bowl. He opened the banana. He heard the doorbell ring. He inspected the banana and chewed it thoughtfully.

"Ugh," Leah groaned, and stumbled out of her bed. She instinctively picked up the nearest phone and moved to answer the door. She opened it. She had no clue who the girl- the one standing there with a huge smile on her face- was. "Caleb, it's one of your friends," Leah called, yawning. She went back to her room.

Caleb blinked blearily, and decided the banana could wait. "Wait a second," he mumbled. He stood in the doorway and examined the girl. She was average height, with brown hair, a snappy suit and a smile that required Caleb to shield his eyes. And Caleb had no clue who she was.

"Oh, sorry!" the girl cried. "I'm looking for 'GusterGirl17,' and… that doesn't look like you." Her smile faded, and Caleb was able to see again. There was a similarly snappy girl next to her.

Caleb said, "Uh, well, that's either me or my sister. We share an account so…"

"Oh. Well, which one of you is filming an Animorph Movie?"

Caleb's eyes popped open. "What?"

"Never mind, it was stupid. It's been so long you probably don't even remember. It's just we flew all this way and-"

Caleb cried, "You tracked me down because of an old, badly done film?"

"So it _is_ you!" the second girl gasped in delight. "Jenny, we don't have to go back to Wisconsin!!"

The girl lost her cool and started jumping up and down, squealing, "YAY! I have an excuse to not handle cheese all day!"

Caleb asked wearily, "Who are you?"

"Oh! Sorry, I'm Jenny Kingsford, and this is my friend, Megan Raley."

The second girl curtsied. "Charmed!"

The first one, Jenny, said, "And… we heard you needed more cast members in order to finish the film. So… here we are!" Jenny held up her hands in a "ta-da!" sort of way.

Caleb blinked a few times. "Uh, no offence, but I think we need more than two girls to finish the movie."

Megan said, "That's why we brought Pablo." She stood aside so Caleb could see a rather tall boy.

Pablo nodded respectfully.

Jenny looked dismayed at Caleb's silence. "Still not good enough?" Pause. "Okay. Pablo? How long would it take to get some of your contacts out here…"

Caleb was poked awake on his feet some five minutes later.

"Mr. Gusty Girl?" Megan called. She bowed in a very Shakespearean manner. "We are you're crew. Myself, Jenny, and anyone else Pablo can wrangle up."

Caleb blinked skeptically. It was very hard to blink in a way that conveyed skepticism, but he thought he did a good job for so early in the morning.

"So!" Jenny said brightly. "Where are the other Animorphs?"

* * *

In about two hours, all the phone-calls were made, most with responses like: "OH MY GOSH! Of _course_ we can start up the movie again!" and "Who the heck is Pablo?" They agreed to have a reunion at the Whale Inn, and after two hours, they had their reunion.

"HELLO CLARICE!" Kaycee wailed, hugging Bobby.

"Who's Clarice?" Joanna gasped, joining the hug. "Ah, so sorry! Can't see a thing without my- MONOCLE!"

"Hey, good to see you all!" Jake said, crushing all three in his mighty bear hug.

"This movie will never die, will it?" Sandy grumbled.

Caleb teased, "Admit it! You _love_ that this movie will never die. You _love_ that we're crazy. Because you _love_ spending time with us."

"Alright, alright! I admit that it's fun to hang out with you guys again… except for Seth."

Jake Seth stuck his tongue out at her. Sandy Thomas stuck hers out farther. Jake stuck his out even farther-

"Anyways!" Bobby yelled. "I understand these kids _staring in horror at us_ are going to help us out?"

"…Huh? Oh!" The girl, Jenny, started and jumped up from a chair. "Yeah, I'm Jenny, and these are my friends Megan and Pablo."

"Hi!" Megan waved.

Pablo stood stoically.

"I'm Bobby," he said, "and these are my friends, Caleb, Sandy, Jake, Kaycee and Joanna. Uh… what do you three have to offer?"

"All the cheese you could possibly want and then some…" Megan shivered.

Jenny explained, "We work at her uncle's cheese manufacturing business. But we offer more than cheese! We offer Pablo…" She gazed reverently at the boy behind her.

Pablo stood stoically.

"What's with this Pablo guy?!" Sandy cried in frustration. "What's so special about _Pablo_?!"

"Don't insult Pablo!" Joanna hissed as she huddled close. "He looks so… stoic."

Kaycee hissed, "Besides, we need all the help we can get if we're going to get this movie running again."

Caleb got close too, and whispered, "This _stationary_ stone has gathered a lot of moss."

"Then let's get it rolling," whispered Jenny.

"Let's do it!" yelled Jake. Sandy glared at him. "What?" They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Jake finally said, "Oh, sorry. Your line."

Sandy smiled smugly, and cleared her throat. "Lets DO IT!"

* * *

Look Park is a little place, like a low budget cross between an amusement park and a zoo. There is a tennis court, a bumper boats ride, a small zoo section, miniature golf, about a mile of tar to skate, a stream to paddle boats in, and a little train that chugs steadily around the perimeter.

This was their Gardens.

Bobby managed to convince his mom to drive all of the kids to Look Park. As all nine kids piled into the van (literally), Bobby's mother simply shook her head disapprovingly and drove off.

A bit later, the kids piled out of the van, and Bobby's mother waved before she drove away.

They took a little walk, Joanna lugging the camera and Megan lugging the make-up kit. They finally got to the zoo section. Jake gawked at a peacock that was strutting its stuff behind a low wall.

"Here we are!" Kaycee said excitedly. She pulled the camera out of its case, held it out to her twin, and started, "Here's the-"

"Whoa no!" Joanna cried, stepping back. "No way I'm going back to being the camera girl! _I'm_ going to be _Cassie_." She posed dramatically.

Kaycee giggled. "Oh fine." She posed dramatically next to Joanna, with the camera on her shoulder.

"Alright," Caleb said, as he pulled The Invasion out of his backpack and flipped through the pages. "We need a few security guards, a gorilla, and a tiger." He glanced around at their motley crew. "A-a-and… we have none of those."

"I brought a gorilla mask," Bobby said, holding up a furry face.

"And I've got these ears and a tail," Sandy said, holding up a tube of striped fabric and a headband with fuzzy triangles.

"And I brought Pablo!" Megan said, gesturing to the stoic Pablo.

Caleb laughed, "This is insane! Let's go for it!"

* * *

While the open-air zoo was far from the Garden's sterile backrooms, they did what they could.

"Here!" Bobby said simply, and shoved the gorilla mask at Sandy.

Sandy blinked a few times. She looked at the mask, then at Bobby, then back at the mask. "You have _got_ to be kidding me," she groaned.

"That's not the Rachel spirit!" Jake cried. "Where's the gung-ho 'Let's DO IT!' Where's the determined look as you stuff a rubber monkey face over your head?"

"Believe me. Rachel would never be caught dead with this in her _hands_," she said flatly, and dropped it in Bobby's. "If she won't wear it, I don't wear it."

Jake said in a confidential voice, "Would Rachel wear it if Marco and Ax were accepted as a ship?"

Sandy blinked a few more times. "Give me that!" she barked, snatching the mask back and pulling it over her head. "Now where do we film this thing?!"

Kaycee managed to figure out the camera, and she filmed Marco nervously acquiring Big Jim. Immediately after the camera went off, Sandy the gorilla tried to pull off her face, and needed Joanna's assistance in peeling it off. After that, they ran from one end of the park to another, and finally found a place to film their chase scene.

Pablo, dressed as a stoic old man, yelled, "Hey you! What are you kids doing back here?!"

"Security!" Joanna gasped, swooning into Jake's arms. "Oh _man_!"

"Come on!" Caleb groaned, putting his palm on his forehead.

"Oooh, love triangle!" Kaycee giggled.

Joanna took Caleb's arm as he started turning pink. "_Keep filming_!" she hissed. "Oh, Tobias, there's still a chance you can win me back. But you'll have to show me you're more _macho_ than Jake!"

"Impossible!" Jake said with a maniac grin.

Caleb warned in a grumble, "We are _so_ not keeping this…"

"We'll figure out your love lives later!" Bobby started running along the path. "RUN!"

The other "Animorphs" split up, but Bobby and Jake were still being chased by the elderly Pablo and the camera-armed Kaycee.

Megan and Jenny, dressed as security, cut Bobby and Jake off at the pass and started yelling like they were corralling cattle.

They got into the thicker foliage, and the security girls stopped shouting. Jake and Bobby acted out the scene, and Jake even squatted in the bushes where a Siberian tiger was supposed to be.

Then, when the boys ran for it, out leaped Sandy. She was wearing felt ears and the tiger tail. She bared her teeth and was about to eat the boys when-

"And cut!" Caleb said.

"Aw, _man_!" Sandy complained. "And this was just getting good!"

"Nice tail," Jake snickered.

"Bite it," she snapped.

Caleb said, "Alright! Shall we head to the rock wall for your escape from the tiger cage?"

So, they ran to the _other_ side of the park. Jake and Bobby started climbing the wall, and Sandy (still mildly tiger-like) lunged at them, almost dragging them back into the "tiger pit".

They finished up the scene, and then, when they realized they still had an hour and a half left…

Caleb and Bobby grinned at each other. "Let's," said Caleb.

"Play," said Bobby.

"TAG!" Caleb yelled, jabbing Bobby in the shoulder. He ran for it while screaming, "YOU'RE IT!"

* * *

After a few hours of tag, they managed to settle down.

"Now what?" Bobby asked simply, sitting on Caleb's stomach.

"Can't- breathe!" Caleb coughed.

"Good idea Caleb! Let me see the Invasion."

Caleb pushed Bobby off of his squishy perch. "Bob, I don't have my backpack with me."

The other boy rolled his eyes. "Just give me the book."

"What are you talking about?" Caleb cried.

Sandy snickered. "C'mon, we all know you have it." She poked him in the chest, which made a crinkling sound.

"Hey hey!" he yelped, scooting away quickly. "What's with the poking?!"

"Dude, we can see it through your shirt," Jake laughed.

Caleb sighed frustratedly. "Good grief, can't I keep _any_ of my dignity?" He pulled out a copy of _The Invasion_ that had a chain straight through it. He pulled off the Animorph uber-bling, and handed it to Bobby, grumbling.

The rest of them all started laughing hysterically. Bobby was practically crying while he laughed, "It's still warm!"

Caleb grinned. "Give it here!" He flipped through the pages. "Okay, we've done that… and that… Did we-? Yeah, did that… Filmed that… Filmed- Wait-" His eyes widened. "Oh my gosh."

"What?" Joanna asked, and the twins jumped to peer over his shoulders.

Caleb mumbled, "The pool. That's the only scene we haven't done. The Yeerk pool."

"The Yeerk pool?" Kaycee gasped. "But that's- that's like huge!"

"That's battle morphs and crazy caverns!" Joanna gasped.

"Like- like _really_ huge!"

"That's about a million humans and aliens milling around in the background!"

"Like really _ginormous _huge!"

"That's- that's _big_!"

"Yeah," Caleb mumbled. "How are we going to get that many people to jump into an amateur fan-film? How do we get the _set_?" He glanced behind him. "No, really. I'm asking. How?"

* * *

The next day, Caleb got out of bed.

It was oddly quiet, and Caleb was surprised to see the phone without his sister attached to it. He peered in her room, and found Leah glaring at him. "I _hate_ you," she said simply.

He backed out quickly, and went down to the basement. There, he collapsed on the couch, turned on the television, and sighed. Alone at last. The Stargate theme song filled the basement. Caleb, who was currently watching Spongebob, was utterly bewildered.

"Dum DUH! Da-da-daaa dum-dum!" sang a voice as someone clomped down the stairs.

Caleb groaned. "Jake? What are you doing?" he called.

"I'm making an entrance!" Jake bellowed happily. "Da-da dum dum! Da-da dum dum! Dum dum du-du-DUM!" He finally got down the stairs and to the couch, beaming. "Come outside." He paused before adding in his best dramatic voice, "It, is time."

Uneasily, Caleb got off the sofa, and followed Jake up the stairs.

Sandy was waiting for them at the top. "Oh my gosh!" she said, grinning. "They love me! They _love_ me!"

Caleb blinked a few times. "Good for you."

Joanna giggled, sitting on the kitchen counter. "We've got a surprise for you!"

"What?" he asked blankly.

Kaycee rolled her eyes. "It's a surprise, stupid!"

Caleb passed Leah, who was gaping at Jenny. "You came for _what_?"

"To help Caleb film the Animorph movie!" Jenny explained brightly.

Leah looked aghast. "You came all the way from Wisconsin- to see _him_ and not me?!"

"How's Trevor?" Jenny asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, he still thinks I'm- WAIT!!"

Caleb smiled and walked past them. He saw Bobby at the door, with hand on handle. Bobby grinned wickedly. "You're going to _freak_."

"I'm going to _flip_," Caleb corrected. "Now what is it?"

Bobby opened the door. Caleb peered out into the yard.

He flipped out.

"THERE THEY ARE!" screeched one thirty-year-old woman.

"AW MA GAWD!" screeched one ten-year-old boy.

Caleb laughed as he and Bobby were swarmed by at least forty Animorph fans of every shape size color and age, all shaking hands, and one giving a ferocious grizzly hug to each of the boys.

"Where'd they come from?" Caleb yelled over the whooping fans.

"Pablo!" Megan said simply, popping out of nowhere. "These are all his relatives!"

Caleb laughed hysterically. "Alright! Let's d-"

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Sandy bellowed, bowling over several youngsters as she threw open the door. She cleared her throat, bared her teeth, and yelled, "Let's DO IT!"

* * *

And man, I _tell_ you! They were madmen out there! And I mean more than usual. A lot more than usual.

Pablo's "relatives" were all Anifans, apparently, and a few had even created collapsible Yeerk Pool scenery "just in case." ("I tell you, it was murder getting this Dracon beam through airport security!")

They filmed long, and they filmed hard, and there were several war cries of "FOR THE WIN!" from Jake, and they improvised a ton of props with totally disastrous results, and it looked terrible, and it was _awesome_.

By far, the most awesome part was when Jenny coaxed Leah out of the house. Caleb's rear fell off instantly, and he was rolling on the floor howling with laughter. Leah was a Hork-Bajir, or more accurately, was a critically embarrassed teen in a dinosaur costume.

She looked around as Bobby also collapsed, and she asked hotly, "_Why are you making me wear this_?!"

By the time the sun went down, Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Marco, and Woman #23 were all crawling out of a tool shed labeled "school."

Jake got his dramatic scene, shivering and sobbing, when in flew a Beanie Baby. A toilet-paper-roll voice said, "They'll come. The Andalites will come. And until then…"

Jake nodded, wiping away invisible tears. "Yeah. Until then, we film. FIGHT! I said film, didn't I?"

* * *

**A/N:** WOO! Filming, and chapter three, is done. I can't let go of my characters- not yet! Must create sequel and/or new chapter…


End file.
